Eudora ? It was a rare opportunity Monday afternoon.

“I feel like I found a diamond in the rough,” said Eudora High School 9th grade English teacher Heather Lawrence.

A connection, if you will, to history. Students were given the chance to learn first-hand from someone who lived — someone who survived.

Monday, Holocaust survivor Louis Frydman told his story and gave his perspective to the ninth grade class at Eudora High School.

“People think that Holocaust survivors don’t want to talk about it because it’s troubling to them. It’s troubling when no one wants to listen,” said Frydman, who also taught at KU for 31 years.

For someone who entered the concentration camps at the age of 12, surviving the world’s most horrific genocide forever changed, Frydman still found time to laugh and tell jokes. He found a way to teach about his touch on history in a light-hearted way.

“It’s really nice to have a first-hand speaker talk to you about it,” said Madeline Dickerson, an EHS freshman and freshman class president.

Frydman said more people need to learn about the Holocaust and he’s always willing to talk about his experiences.